Ray Of Hope
by Charmed Slayer
Summary: What happens when your only ray of hope is crushed?CHAPTER 6 IS CURRENTLY BEING WORKED ON! IT WILL BE POSTED SOON...PROMISE!
1. Prologue

**A/N: **Please review we will post the next chapter very soon a couple of days. Well really I should say first chapter this is the prologue. Okay this was supposed to be the first tragedy piece of fan fiction and we're hoping it is, but if it's not well we tried. That's why we had the urgent need to post it lol! 

**Disclaimer: **We don't own any of the character they are owned by the WB, except for those we made up ourselves. (but that's pretty obvious, we're only doing this so we don't get sued!) 

**Prologue**

The old metal stairs, clanked as her heels beat against them, her long brown hair flowing behind her. Her footsteps echoed through the many floors of the abounded flats. _Oh God! Please don't let me be to late _she thought as she continued breathless. _I could of just orbed out but then I would of risked scaring him. _She threw open the old, battered wooden door and jumped into the welcoming sunlight. 

"Luke." She screamed. "Think about this." She said as she lowered her voice slightly. 

"Go away…I don't need your help." Came his shaky reply. 

"Please…Luke this is stupid." She said taking two cautious steps forward. Luke didn't make any attempt to jump, but still Melinda didn't want to risk it. 

"You don't understand, you could never understand." He said moving a little closer to the edge.

"This is stupid Luke, your family love you…you should be lucky you have a family Luke, who cares about you and loves you more than anything…why do this to yourself…to them?" 

"How can you understand what I'm going through?" 

"Because…because it happened to me…more than once, it broke my heart, and I thought that I couldn't go on, but I'm here now Luke, and you would of never of guessed it right?" 

"I guess not." He said turning towards her slightly, his dark eyes full of pain, not quiet hidden behind his blond floppy hair, a pain that Melinda could relate to better than most people, a pain she had experienced one to many times. 

"Please Luke take my hand." She said as she extended a shaking hand towards him, slowly as if not to startle him. It seemed like an eternity until he extended his hand and placed it in hers. 

She sighed with relief and he noticed it "This doesn't mean I'm not going to jump, because I will an less you can convince me not to…I'll go straight back there and jump if you don't tell me your story and how you survived it." 

"Okay." She said as she sat down next to him on the cold stone floor of the roof. "I've not told this story to anyone else before." He noticed her hands were shaking, as she thought about it. "It was a long time ago, I was 7 when it all started…"


	2. Mom?

**A/N: **Please R/R we hope you like it! 

**Disclaimer: **See first Chapter for disclaimer. 

**Chapter 2 - Mom?! **

"Back then I lived in the manor with my Aunt Paige, my Moms sister, and my parents: Piper and Leo. My Mom's other sister, Aunt Phoebe, lived with her husband Cole just a few blocks away. To any other person our family would look relatively normal but we had a secret. A secret that was known to few people, but was known to every witch, elder, whitelighter and demon although they didn't all know who we really were. We were not only witches but my Mom and Aunts were the Charmed Ones. A powerful force of good that every demon wanted to destroy. I was only 7 when it happened. The day that changed the rest of my life and a day I would never forget. It started out just like any other ordinary Saturday; although because we were witches I guess no day was what most people would call ordinary. The usual 'pancakes' shouted up the stairs woke me up, reluctantly I threw off the covers and again forced myself to join the world after a soothing nights sleep. I threw on some clothes and ran downstairs for breakfast. It was then that I heard this scream by the front door as a demon shimmered in and threw an energy ball at Paige. She was sent hurtling through the air and into the clock knocking her unconscious. Mom ran in screaming at me to go up to the attic but I was so scared that I was frozen to the spot; I tried to move but all I could do was stand and stare. Mom tried to freeze the Demon but she was thrown into the wall, where he pinned her throat like a vice to stop her from escaping. Dad raced in from the back garden to see his wife being drained of air. But he, now a mortal could do nothing but stand by and look into her eyes as the demon took out an athame and embedded it deep in gut. Her blood slowly began to drip onto the floor. Dad charged at the demon but who had already shimmered away leaving Mom to collapse. He quickly ran and picked her up…there was so much blood…and…" 

* * * 

"Are you okay?" 

Melinda quickly blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and looked up at Luke. 

"Yeah, I…I'm fine" 

* * * 

"She just lay there cradled in Dad's arms as he rocked her gently and told her that everything was going to be okay and she was going to be fine. But I could tell that something was wrong. Her skin was pale, her lips were blue and there was a rapidly growing pool of blood at her feet. Icy fear encased my heart and the pounding in my ears became so loud that it drowned out every other sound. I stood watching her unable to do anything other than stare as I anxiously waited for her chest to rise and fall but it never did. As I watched I saw a single tear fall down my father's cheek and only then did my brain begin to register the fact that she was dead." 

"I'd never lost someone close to me before and for the first time in my life I was more scared than I'd ever been. Every emotion that I'd ever felt rushed into my body and lodged in my throat. Pain, anguish, fear, love. They made my head swim and my chest ache with a deep sadness. I felt angry with her for leaving and then guilty for thinking it. My eyes began to well up and cloud my vision but it didn't matter how many times I wiped away the tears away they still continued to fall." 

*** 

Phoebe and Cole shimmered into the manor. 

"I don't think your premonition came true." Cole said looking around the living room. 

"Cole my premonitions have never let me down before, why would I have a premonition if it wasn't going to happen." 

I heard them arguing and turned to see them, tears staining my face. 

"Melinda, what happened?" asked uncle Cole, a look of worry on his face after seeing me. 

"We're to late." Muttered Phoebe as she pulled her hand from Cole's and walked shakily towards me. 

"Melinda?" uncle Cole repeated after seeing that I still hadn't answered. It was Phoebe's shocked gasp of horror that made Uncle Cole rush towards me. We all stood and watched as Leo held Piper close sobbing into her battered body. My feat felt like lead holding me in place; it had taken all my strength to turn to uncle Cole and auntie Phoebe 

"What happened?" said auntie Phoebe; I could tell her voice was cracking with pain. 

"Demon." Was all dad muttered in reply. 

Then it was as if everyone in that room understood that Piper was truly dead, it was Uncle Cole's voice that broke the awful silence that fell over the usually hectic and loud manor. "Melinda why don't I read you a story while Daddy and auntie Phoebe wake auntie Paige up." 

"What about mommy? What are we going to do with mommy?" I remember saying. 

"Its okay daddy will look after mommy, he will stay with her." He replied softly as he came closer to me. 

"Why can't I stay with mommy?" I stomped my foot and did my best pout, as I looked at all the adults in the room. I could tell I must have done something wrong when auntie Phoebe looked like she was going to cry, I always remembered how my dad would say I looked like mommy when I pouted like that. I watched as auntie Phoebe clung to uncle Cole for support as she tried not to break down in front of me. "Its okay to cry auntie Phoebe." I said as I finally found the feeling in my legs and managed to walk towards her, I just wanted to be safe in somebody's arms, all this pain was making me upset. Auntie Phoebe kneeled down and crushed me to her in a huge hug. That was the first time I ever heard auntie Phoebe cry, she was always seemed a lively, happy person I almost thought she was incapable of such an act. I looked at Uncle Cole over her shoulder and he smiled at me weakly as I patted auntie Phoebe on the back and stroked her hair, just like mommy did for me when I was upset over something. Cole placed a hand on Phoebe's shoulder and said "Let me take Melinda upstairs, so you can deal with everything here." He said softly. I gave Phoebe a kiss on the cheek and pulled out of her embrace to go willing into my favourite uncles arms, well my only uncle but he was still the best. Always there to comfort me when mom and dad weren't he was more of a friend than an uncle, but a friend I never wanted to loose. 

*** 

"They let me go to the funeral, I remember it so well everyone dressed in the same colour, the colour of darkness of death. I watched as they lowered her coffin into the ground it was a beautiful coffin, wooden carvings of angels on the sides and of a sun on the front, to represent the light of going to a new place. Not many people attended the funeral just close family and a dozen friends of moms who I had never met. I understood that mom sacrificed a lot of friends to carry out her destiny as a charmed ones, and now she lay in that coffin after sacrificing so much for others who never attended her funeral because they didn't know or didn't want to know, and understand the things they didn't think existed. I held my dads hand through out the whole thing. I wouldn't even let go so he could stand and do the speech alone. I wanted to stand by him so I did. I stood by him the whole time, and I knew he thanked me for it even if he never said the words. And as the world crashed down around me I looked to my father for help and he told me this. He told me even though she's gone she'll always be with us in our memories, in our hearts." 

**** 

"After the funeral the house became full of morbid conversations. People who you don't even know try and give you advice and tell you that they know what you're going through. But how can they know? It's not there mother who's dead and lying 6 feet under the ground. They can go home and know that their parents will be there instead of finding a demon or finding one of your parents lying on the floor covered in blood and then watching them die. They tell you that the pain fades over time but it doesn't. The smallest thing will remind me of her, like a scent or a voice and then the memories come flooding back to me and even though they may be happy memories I always feel the sadness and pain in my heart. I don't think I ever realized how much she meant to me until she was gone and I feared that she never knew. Although this was the first loss for me in my family, it was not to be the last, and the next was just as painful" 


	3. Grieving

**A/N:** For this story we are just going to say that after Cole came back from the wasteland he got back together with Phoebe and they got married again okay, cuz if you ask that would have been better than killing Cole off! Also Paige still works at the social services, and Phoebe still works on her column.

Please r/r.

**Chapter 3 – Grieving**

"Is that it? That's your trauma? Your…your mom died. People die you know you're not the only person in the world to have lost your mom. At least you're okay now, you know. At least your family care about you which is more than mine do. I've got no one…" 

"And neither do I! Now are you going to listen to the rest of what I have to say or are you going to just wallow in self pity?" 

"I'm listening" 

*** 

"Auntie Paige hadn't returned since the elders called her away that morning, the normal whitelighter chime had signalled her departure. Even though Auntie Paige was only half whitelighter, she usually answered their rare but demanding calls. I noticed my family weren't great fans of the elders, they were always commenting on how they never knew anything and that it was a waste of time asking them. 

Dad couldn't even bear to look into my eyes. I knew it was because I reminded him so much of mom. But he wouldn't ever say that to me, in fact the name Piper hadn't been mentioned in the manor for the past week. It was as if a deadly silence would fall over the manor if it were, like the first time Auntie Phoebe said it.

Usually mom would have been the one to read me a bedtime story, but now it was Uncle Cole or Auntie Phoebe, occasionally Auntie Paige, when she wasn't busy at work or trying to get Dad to talk more about what he was feeling. Sometimes both Uncle Cole and Auntie Phoebe would read to me, I enjoyed this much more, although he kind of made me feel upset all at the same time, as I remember the times I most enjoyed when both my parents reading a bedtime story to me. 

I hardly saw my dad that was a strange thing to me, he never left the house but he hardly left his room, sometimes I would sit on his lap for a long time, but he hardly spoke. Once he said to me "Be careful what choices you make Melinda, you may not be able to save the ones you love even if you were making the choice for them in the first place." Of course at that age I didn't really understand what he was on about, but I learnt to know that he was talking about how he had given up his wings to live a normal, well as normal as possible life with my mom. But how this choice had affected his ability to save the women he loved. 

Auntie Paige returned later that day bringing the news that the elders had made her the whitelighter of the family now. Auntie Paige was talking about how she didn't know if this was a good idea, as she would feel terrible if someone in her family died because she couldn't save them. Auntie Phoebe just said that she was happy for Paige and she should be happy for herself, because at least they have someone to heal the family now. 

I knew all the other adults were worried about dad; they usually sat around in the living room for a couple of hours each night discussing the situation, and how he wasn't making much progress. Auntie Phoebe always sat snuggled up on Uncle Cole's lap, I knew it was because he was her way of not closing up and falling back somewhere we couldn't reach her, like Dad had done. Mom was dad's hold on sanity, and losing her to what he felt was his hand, had made him spiral into a world, where no one could reach him, the walls were just to hard to break down however hard we all tried. Auntie Phoebe needed to be near uncle Cole, needed to know that he was there to take care of her. Hold her when she cried, which I heard her do quiet often and every time I looked, Uncle Cole would be there holding her in his arms. As she cried about my mom, and how she had left her to be the older sister, and how she couldn't handle this, but how she felt guilty about blaming her for leaving her, to be the big sister in the first place. I watched how Uncle Cole comforted Auntie Phoebe, and I new that's why I loved Uncle Cole so much, he would never treat you as if you didn't know the truth, but he always had a way of making it all better for you. I sometimes felt like Uncle Cole was the only one I could really talk to about my mom. I knew it was hard for my dad, so I rarely asked him to speak about her. Auntie Phoebe and Paige were always trying too hard, I knew they were only trying so much because they cared about me, and couldn't bear if anything happened to me. 

Slowly our family was falling apart, mom was the one who held it altogether, she was the final piece in the puzzle and now that puzzle piece was lost and was never to be found. Little did I know she was not the to be the last puzzle piece to be lost… 

I knew my mom was gone, but I sometimes found it hard to believe. It was hard not to expect the usual smell of pancakes drifting up the stairs and her voice calling me. All it was now was a distant memory, that at the time didn't seem to mean much to me, but now it would be one of those memories I treasured, just knowing that it was time I spent with my mom." 

TBC... 


	4. Saving

A/N: Oh wow! an update lol! Sorry i took so long i have gcse's coming up, please comment. 

Chapter 4 – Saving 

"My heart ached to be held by my mother, but I knew it would never happen again, only in my dreams. Where every time something horrible would steal me away from her loving arms, and each time I felt my heart shatter some more. Just like it shattered into tiny pieces when I lost my dad…I knew Aunt Paige had dealt with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she had blamed herself for not getting there fast enough, to heal dad. But secretly we all new dad was happier about dying at least this way he could be with mom. But now I felt so alone, I was happy for my dad in a strange way because at least I knew he was happy somewhere else with my mom. But I was also angry with him for leaving me here to grow up with out any real parents, its not that I didn't want to stay with my Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cole, its just there was a empty space in my heart that should have been filled by years spent with my parents. I had to except that, that part of my heart would never be completed filled."  
  
*******  
  
"How…how did it happen if you don't mind me asking?" asked Luke timidly.  
"No its okay, I will tell you…"  
  
*******  
  
"Its funny how everything can be just perfect for a while but never forever, something always destroys our family's happiness, without a second thought…  
I was in the sunroom happily colouring in some pictures in my colouring book, when the second most tragic event of my life occurred. A demon shimmered in behind me and I felt the slight rush of air against my back, and then a hand holding me tightly around the neck. My heart was pounding, my knees felt like jelly, as the demon glared at me and held me in a deadly grip, my eyes formed huge O's of fear and I could feel my skin begin to turn white as the blood left my face. I let out a strangled shriek of horror, as I tried to break free to no avail. It was getting harder to breath, as I gasped for air, I saw my dad charge into the room a look of pain in his eyes, and horror on his face."  
"Let her go, take me instead."  
"I don't want you! I want her." The demon roughly dropped me on the sunroom floor as I placed my hand on my neck, and I took in huge breaths of oxygen. I watched terrified as my dad challenged the demon. I remember calling Aunt Paige's name, as I hid behind a chair, as my dad and the demon fought. 

"If you had seen my dad before when there were 3 charmed ones…before moms death, you would have known there was no way he could defeat that demon. (but its amazing what parental love can make someone do) But since Moms' death, after he came out of his shell, we all thought it was an improvement. But he just became obsessed with learning how to fight properly, and begged Uncle Cole to train him, sometimes even Aunt Phoebe. Of course they both felt like they could refuse training him, so spent many tiresome hours training him. In one way I was glad of this it gave me hope to start with, but now I could see there was no way dad could win." 

"I called again for aunt Paige and asked her to bring uncle Cole and aunt Phoebe. It was obvious now the demon was just winding dad up, then would take more pride in killing him. I sighed in relief when I saw the blue orbs float down from the ceiling and take the form of the three other members of my family."  
"Leo!" Auntie Paige screamed as she held out her arms, dad orbed out and reappeared right in front of auntie Paige. Paige began healing dads wounds, as the demon turned hated eyes upon them, and formed an energy ball in his right hand.  
"Watch out!" I screamed as I leapt from my hiding place towards my dad and my aunt.  
"Dad turned his head, and saw me running, and then he saw the energy ball that was surely going to hit me. He leapt forward and pushed me onto the floor just in time to save me…but not himself. I watched in horror as the energy ball hit dad sending him hurtling through the air, he flew through the sunroom windows, shattering the glass and landing outside on the grass. Uncle Cole angrily and repeatedly threw energy balls at the demon until he was consumed in flames. Whilst myself, aunt Paige and aunt Phoebe ran to dads side. I looked down at my dad, pieces of glass cutting through his body, tearing holes in his skin and blood surrounding his battered body."  
"I'm sorry Melinda." He croaked.  
"For what?" I replied.  
Aunt Paige and Phoebe began removing the glass so auntie Paige could begin healing him, I held my dads had the whole time and I knew he was grateful for it.  
"The demons dead for sure." Said Uncle Cole as he stepped outside.  
"Thanks" replied dad quietly.  
"No problem."  
"Paige?" said Aunt Phoebe "Why is nothing happening?"  
"I don't know she replied panicked.  
"This couldn't be happening, not again, I had already lost my mom; I wasn't prepared to loose my dad as well. I truly believed even the powers that be were against me as I watched my dad fight for his life. My auntie Paige was trying frantically to heal him."  
"Why isn't it working?"  
"Just try to relax Paige."  
"It's my time to go, don't blame yourself Paige just let me go. I'll be with Piper" 

"And then he slowly and painfully turned his head and looked into the distance seeing something that we could not, but we didn't need to see it to know who it was. Their voices became distant calls of horror, as the world seemed to be closing in on me. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, my vision became blurry, and my head felt light, as I watched in horror from what seemed a long, way away. I let out a hiccupped sob and then an anguished wail as I fell to the ground. My heart broken, my world shattered in front of my very eyes, how was I supposed to go on? My dad saved me from the one thing that took my mom, evil…It was a fact of my life that evil would always come for us, always hunt us down. My Aunt's were a prize to them, just like my mom and dad were. As I told you before they were the three most powerful witches of all time, so even though they had a great destiny, they were never meant to have a real life, not with evil always lurking in the shadows, waiting to attack. When I watched my father drift away I vowed that things would change that I would learn the craft, and avenge the deaths of my parents." 

"It was as I watched him die that I became angry, tears streaming down my face and when Paige tried to comfort me I just pushed her away shouting its your fault until Uncle Cole scooped me up and held me close until I stopped pounding my fists against him and fell into a fit of tears." 

"I knew Aunt Paige was dealing with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she was blaming herself for not getting there fast enough, to heal dad. But secretly we all new dad was happier about dying at least this way he could be with mom. But now I felt so alone I was happy for my dad in a strange way because at least I knew he was happy. But I was angry with him for leaving me here to grow up with out any real parents, its not that I didn't want to stay with my Aunt Phoebe and uncle Cole, its just there was a empty space in my heart that should have been filled by years spent with my parents." 


	5. Moving On

**Chapter 5 - Moving On**  
  
"The next few days that followed were chaotic Phoebe and Cole had to move all their stuff from the penthouse apartment to the manor, so they could look after me. Paige was to busy and whitelighter duties to look after me. As much I loved my Aunt and Uncle they could never replace my parents, no matter how hard they tried. Even when they moved all their stuff into my parents room, replaced my parents possessions with theirs and even threw away some of there stuff, to me this symbolized the end. I just wanted to scream at them and tell them to leave it alone, but instead I locked myself into my own mind building a bigger wall around myself, trying to keep all that I did know in and all that was new out."  
  
****  
  
"Its strange how things seem to change around you, except you remain in the same place as before. Feeling lost and alone, unable to understand why you can't change. It was like this for me I was lost in a world of pity I ignored Cole and Phoebe's attempts to lure me out of my trance. I barely strung two words together in a day. Sometimes I wish I was with them, I knew they were happy in heaven...or where ever it is they went. I was angry, so angry at the fact that they left me here alone, yet felt guilty to feel this anger. The one thing I have come to believe is something my mum told me along time ago, '_Evil only exists to spread loss_', her words rang over and over in my head as I changed position on the chair, I had been sitting on for the past four hours. My eye barely registered Phoebe entering the room until she knelt down in front of me and pushed open my clenched fist. I felt her place something cold in my palm and casts my eyes downwards to see. Looking at my now outstretched palm I saw the familiar pale white stone glint in its silver casing.  
  
I felt a sob hitch in the back of my throat as she spoke to me "I thought you might like this...I know she would have wanted you to have this!"  
  
I ran my fingers slowly over the jewel, images of my mum wearing the necklace sprung into my mind, clouding my thoughts. I slowly placed the necklace around my neck and held the pendant close to my heart before letting it go, just like I let her go to evil. I managed a weak 'thanks' to my aunt. Although the pendant made me think of my mother's death, it also reminded me of her strength and determination. When someone gives you a family possession you feel honoured to have it yet you know the only reason you do is due to death. As we begin to accept death we cling to these objects as if they were the only thing in this world that could stop us from falling and allow us to move on. But if all we can do is cling to our past so how does that make us able to move on?"  
  
****  
  
Luke watched her as she told her story: her eyes staring as though she was seeing a time that was long since past, Her hand clutching the pendant hanging from her neck.  
  
  
****  
  
"After much discussion they lured me into a family dinner that night to celebrate Phoebe and Cole moving back in. It was the first meal we all had together since mum died. It was tense to say the least. Full of false smiles and small talk, mainly aimed at me, It wasn't the same. No matter what they did or how they acted it still wasn't the same. To me the food was disgusting and an eerie silence fell over every attempt to start a conversation."  
  
"The next bit that followed I don't remember well. I remember becoming angry, something my aunt said set of my anger. The tables began to shake so violently that food and cutlery was leaving the table at a tremendous speed, the chandelier above rattled so hard we believed it would fall on us. I looked around to see horrified faces just before we were plunged darkness as the light above us burst. I began to feel a throbbing pain in my head that got worse as every second passed by. My vision became blurry, I couldn't see anything any more and I felt myself falling and heard my head hit the table and at that moment everything stopped."  
  
---------  
  
**A/N:** So what did you think? We do apologize greatly for the huge writers block we had which was why this story has not been updated for a long time...


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